does it really matter what your IQ is?

[Amelia G]

I don't know. I am still hesitant to accept your opinion, dsepite the high amount of thought you have put into it. I will open my argument with a quote:



I believe in this idea, as old as it is. Humans are born with blank minds. What they end up doing is a product of their enviornment and their upbringing and their experiences. If one finds comfort and peace with their upbrining, then they will be less likely to challenge it. I think this might even hold true in the case of someone with a high IQ. Perhaps it does not. I do not know, and this is where my argument may be shattered.

Still, let me continue. From my personal experience, I was raised well. My parents were nice. I did well in school. Still, I craved popularity. I wanted to be part of the herd (of course I did not know it was the herd back then). Yet, people rejected me. It was not until that rejection that I began questioning my existence. And, I would like to think that I am smart, an intellectual even, though no where near as intellectual as certain famous intellectuals. So, therefore, I am skeptical that even someone with a high IQ could override their social conditioning to be part of the herd unless there was some for of rejection or they made some sort of discover. Now, the latter I suppose IS more likely to happen with someone possessing a higher IQ. I could agree with you there. And maybe peope with high IQs recognize their blessing/curse and decide to simply pretend they are less smart in front of others simply to have their cake and eat it too. I am not sure if this is true, though, because I have reached a point in my intellectualism that the mere thought of socializing with people who lack intelligence infuriates me, and in the very least makes me feel like I am wasting my time.

I don't entirely hold with the conclusions some philosophers come to from the concept of tabula rasa, as some tablets are easier to write on than others and some tablets retain what is written more effectively and some tablets are born broken.

I totally agree with most of what you are saying though. There is the instinct to want to be part of the herd. But the herd can tell when something does not quite fit. People sort of intuitively know that the herd rejects someone who is extremely stupid or extremely physically unappealing, but it is perhaps less obvious that someone extremely bright or extremely beautiful will be similarly pushed out. A bright person who happens to be around only equally bright people will probably feel more a part of things, but finding a ghetto of one's peers is more difficult, the more exceptional the individual is.

Oh, and, fuck yeah, I think it is normal to sometimes dumb it down in certain situations. The point of speaking is communication, so there is no point talking to someone at a level they can't follow. That is not an issue of following the herd; that is just common courtesy.

[Amelia G]

***But I usually think someone just said something stupid, as opposed to thinking that it is unfortunate they are average.***

Haha! you know, I do this all the time. I also notice that it seems like on the whole, I think so many people are stupid and think and say stupid things. Maybe it's because they're average and I'm not. I know that sounds conceited saying that, but maybe that could actually be proof that I do have above average intelligence. Who knows?

I kind of got the impression we probably had that in common.

[Amelia G]

***I compensated for this in high school by having great tits***

So, aaaah, are they still great? ( ;
You know, once guys start thinking about women's flesh, I think automatically their I.Q.'s start going down.

I don't know how many times I've been at a party or an event having a deep discussion with some guy and a cute girl walks by. The guy will stop the discussion on a dime and say, "Jesus, did you see the ass on her!?! I'd like to bend her over my favorite coffee table and bang the shit out of her."

Do the dudes you know all have remarkably tall coffee tables or remarkably short legs? Or is there some position I'm not thinking of?

[Amelia G]

LMAO I've never heard of anyone admitting they're stupid.

I've heard people slag others for being intelligent. Always figured that was the same thing as admitting stupidity.

[BigBoy]

An IQ of 128 would place you in approximately the 96th percentile. That means that, if you manage your life well, you can find many intellectual peers, and many people you feel are brighter. 4% of the population is still a lot of people. But it still means that you will find that 95% of the people you meet probably can't do what you can do. I can't speak for you, but some of your posts certainly indicate that you are able to figure out things that the people around you won't or can't.

Speaking only for myself, I know I thought I was brilliant in school because there are such easy measuring sticks for such things. I compensated for this in high school by having great tits and being able and willing to drink Marines under the table. At university, I didn't have to compensate because I was average there.

As an adult, I tend to think of myself as average and find myself regularly wondering what the fuck is wrong with other people. Why can't they get their heads around the simplest concepts? Why don't they see the obvious without having to have it spelled out for them? Why do they listen to idiotic tonal arguments instead of substance? The reality is that most of the population has trouble thinking critically and maintaining multiple pieces of important data in their heads. But I usually think someone just said something stupid, as opposed to thinking that it is unfortunate they are average.

I have great boobs too! It's one of the advantages to having our kind of metabolism.

[Valerian Reign]

I don't entirely hold with the conclusions some philosophers come to from the concept of tabula rasa, as some tablets are easier to write on than others and some tablets retain what is written more effectively and some tablets are born broken.

I suppose that is true. It would be like philosophers of the past over look certain variables.

Oh, and, fuck yeah, I think it is normal to sometimes dumb it down in certain situations. The point of speaking is communication, so there is no point talking to someone at a level they can't follow. That is not an issue of following the herd; that is just common courtesy.

I don't think it would always be courtesy. For example, a person with a high IQ could just be communicating at an average level for the sake of manipulation.

But, regardless, thank you for responding to my posts. It was definitely an interesting discussion.

[TheDeathKnight]

It's really not worth worrying about it as an adult.

It's mostly used for children.

As a way to find children who are amazingly smart, or amazingly stupid.

So that they can be guided into classes that will help them.

If you take some 4 year old kid, and give them an IQ test, and they are able to do calculus, and figures out every question, and knows all kinds of insane vocabulary, then that kid is WAY smarter than other kids. For whatever reason. So it makes sense to send that kid to more advanced classes.

And if a 10 year old kid can't solve any problems, and all of their intelligence is really basic, then it's better to get them into classes for people who are learning disabled.

But if a kid is somewhere slightly above average, or slightly below, it really does not matter. But it does if a kid is a genius or retarded. Because those kids do need special attention. So I think that's the main reason they give those kinds of tests.

[Ajax Knucklebones]

Do the dudes you know all have remarkably tall coffee tables or remarkably short legs? Or is there some position I'm not thinking of?

[Amelia G]

It's really not worth worrying about it as an adult.

It's mostly used for children.

As a way to find children who are amazingly smart, or amazingly stupid.

So that they can be guided into classes that will help them.

If you take some 4 year old kid, and give them an IQ test, and they are able to do calculus, and figures out every question, and knows all kinds of insane vocabulary, then that kid is WAY smarter than other kids. For whatever reason. So it makes sense to send that kid to more advanced classes.

And if a 10 year old kid can't solve any problems, and all of their intelligence is really basic, then it's better to get them into classes for people who are learning disabled.

But if a kid is somewhere slightly above average, or slightly below, it really does not matter. But it does if a kid is a genius or retarded. Because those kids do need special attention. So I think that's the main reason they give those kinds of tests.

Totally. A lot of people think that, as an adult, it means they are smarter than the next guy if they score 108 and the other guy scores 107 and it just is not that precise.

[Mr Karl]

iq tests..................sounds like scientology to me

[Ajax Knucklebones]

iq tests..................sounds like scientology to me

Well, my I.Q. score did say I have a large concentration of little aliens inside me, so you maybe right.

[Raza]

Not really. At best, a high IQ allows you to be more spectacularly wrong. At worst, it's an effective excuse to not think at all.

[malcolm]

iq tests..................sounds like scientology to me

i think you're thinking fot he happiness test thingy they make you take....or so i've been told......

[Amelia G]

True, but it works both ways. People actively claiming to be intelligent are often hopeless morons too.

Absolutely, you are right. I was responding to the idea that no one ever says they are stupid. Heck, aside from the example I gave, lots of people will straight up claim to be slow. Of course, self reports are unreliable. This is part of the reason things like IQ tests exist. Someone might claim (and truly believe) brilliance or claim (and truly believe) idiocy, but, not only could an individual have an agenda, they might just not have the proper yardsticks to measure themselves vis-a-vis others. Hence all standardized testing really.